Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
by Angelfan15
Summary: Buffy's family goes out of town for Thanksgiving, and she spends the holiday with her best friend's family. AU
1. Apple Pie

Title: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

By Angelfan15

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Their relationship would have turned out so different if they were mine.

Pairing: Buffy/Angel mainly

Distribution: Let me know where it's going!

Spoilers: This is completely AU

Rating: PG-13, probably. If you can watch the show, then you can read this.

Summary: Buffy's family goes out of town for Thanksgiving, and she spends the holiday with her best friend's family.

Authors Note: I'm back! I know, I know, with a new story instead of an update but I have been working on this story for a long time, a little over two years! I started it and my computer crashed but luckily I had most of it saved on Google Docs but I did lose some of it. In fact, I lost a couple of my story updates and that is what has been taking so long to update my stories. I need re-write them, which I have been slowly doing. On the plus side, this story is already complete so I will be posting the whole thing!

Chapter 1: Apple Pie

Buffy Summers walked into her dorm room, after her last class, tossing her books on her small desk and let out a sigh as she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair. Looking towards her roommate's closet door, she could hear mumbling and the sound of the other girl rummaging through her clothes and other belongings. "Campus is practically dead, people must have taken off early for break… which is weird because I'm still here." Buffy was famous for being the first one off campus when it came to school break, even if it was just a three-day weekend. When Buffy didn't get a reply from her roommate, she craned her head to try to get a better view. "When are you taking off?" Still, the blonde didn't get a reply. "Hey, Will?"

"Ah ha!" A short-haired redhead declared as she stepped out of the closet. Finally looking up, she saw her life-long best friend. "Oh! Hey, Buffy! How long have you been here?"

Buffy chuckled and shook her head as she sat down on her bed. "Just a few minutes. What were you looking for?"

"I was just making sure that something I said wasn't there actually wasn't there even though Faith said that it was there, but I knew that it wasn't there!" Willow Rosenberg rambled.

"It's scary that I actually followed that." Buffy smiled. "What did Faith say was there?"

Willow playfully rolled her eyes. "Faith said that she left her black leather skirt here because I asked to borrow it like a month ago, but I didn't. When have I ever worn a leather skirt?" Then Willow paused. "Except that one time when I did wear a leather skirt, but that was just because you made me for Halloween!"

"And is this leather skirt about this length?" Buffy indicated to her mid-thigh. "…with a silver buckle in the front?"

Willow nodded. "Don't tell me that I had a lapse in my sanity and did barrow it!"

Buffy shook her head, getting up and making her way over to her closet and pulling out a hanger with the leather skirt she had described on it. "Nope, that is my skirt that I let Faith barrow over the summer and she never gave it back, so when she left it here, I took it back."

"That girl!" Willow huffed. "Forty-five minutes of my life wasted because she is the one that can't give something back that SHE borrowed. Forty-five minutes that I could have been packing."

Buffy offered her best friend a small smile. "Which brings me back to my question, when are you leaving?"

"Your question?" Willow asked, confused. "When did you ask that?"

"When you were still in the closet." Buffy laughed, hanging her skirt back up in her own closet. "I don't get why you have to pack anyway, your parents live across town."

Willow rolled her eyes. "My mom doesn't want anything to come between family time during the holiday, so I won't be coming back to the dorm."

"I don't get it though." Buffy was the one that was confused now. "For the last couple years, your mom has been completely against Thanksgiving, she said it was like the destruction of the indigenous people or something."

Willow nodded as she grabbed a small suitcase, placing it on her twin size bed and opened it. "Oh, but that was before."

Buffy sat back down on her bed. "Before what?"

"Before she found out that everyone was going to be together." Willow informed her.

Buffy pursed her lips, she still didn't get it. Wouldn't they have all been together any other year if Mrs. Rosenberg had agreed to have a Thanksgiving Dinner? Instead, Willow had spent every year with Buffy, her younger sister, Dawn, and their mom. Unfortunately, this year, Dawn had begged her mom to go to their Aunt Arlene's house in Illinois for the holiday and Buffy had to stay behind in Sunnydale, California due to an overwhelming amount of homework.

"Why don't you come with?" Willow suggested. "You don't have to stay the whole time! Just come the day before to help prep and then the day of, that way you will still have time for homework."

Buffy bit her lip. "I don't know Will…"

"Please, Buffy!" Willow pleaded. "My brother is coming home for Thanksgiving, don't make me endure that alone!"

Buffy raised her eyebrows in surprise, now she got it. "Your brother? He hasn't been home since…"

"Forever!" Willow exclaimed. "I love my big brother, you know that! But, mom can get a little wacky over him and I'm really going to need my best friend there."

Buffy thought for a moment, it would be interesting to see Willow's brother after all this time. She couldn't believe how long it had been, he was probably a completely different person now. "Do you think your parents would mind?"

Willow shook her head. "From what mom said, he's bringing a friend too."

"Oh, fine." Buffy sighed with a smile. "I'm in."

"Great!" Willow jumped up excitedly. "Now you don't have to go into a depression from the lack of turkey and pie."

0o0o0

Buffy closed her textbook and took a deep breath, she had enough studying for one day, which was a good thing because she needed to get over to the Rosenberg house to help Willow and her mom bake pies. If it was one thing Buffy knew, it was baking, she wasn't very good with cooking, but she could hold her own when it came to baking. Both the Rosenberg children were going to be having friends over for Thanksgiving, Willow's mom thought they needed several extra desserts, which resulted in the older woman working herself into a frenzy until Willow said that she and Buffy would spend part of an extra day baking.

She didn't know when exactly Willow's brother was going to be getting in, but she knew that she was nervous about it. She used to have the biggest crush on her best friend's older brother, but he hadn't been home since he moved to Illinois four years earlier to attend college. Getting up from her desk, Buffy made her way over to her closet, she needed to find something to wear that she was comfortable in, that Willow's parents would approve of and maybe something to catch the older Rosenberg siblings eye. This was going to be harder than she thought! With a sigh, Buffy grabbed a pair of old blue jeans and a tank top, she didn't know if he was going to be there today anyway!

0o0o0

Buffy cautiously walked into the Rosenberg house, she knew how Mrs. Rosenberg dotted over her oldest son and always wanted everything to be perfect for him. Buffy had no idea what she was walking into.

"Oh! Thank goodness you are here, Buffy!" Sheila Rosenberg exclaimed, grabbing the blonde's arm as the older woman walked past the front door. The older redheaded woman led Buffy into the kitchen where Willow had already started baking.

"Hey, Buffy!" Willow smiled brightly, looking up from the apple she was pealing. "How is your English paper coming?"

Buffy took a deep breath, making her way over to her best friend. "Don't even get me started! I really thought that I would have it done by now!"

Willow shrugged. "I got mine done a few days ago."

"Of course, you did." Buffy playfully glared before making her way over to the sink to wash her hands and jump in to help her best friend. "So, what pie am I making? You know apple is my specialty but looks like you already have that one covered."

"Oh, please!" Willow huffed, concentrating on the apple in her hand. "This pie is for everyone else, mom said you have to make the royal highness his own apple pie because it's his favorite and probably even write his initials in pie crust."

"Why just his initials?" Buffy asked teasingly. "I'm sure I could fit his whole name."

"You are horrible!" Willow exclaimed to her best friend. "It's like you are encouraging her or something!"

Buffy shrugged. "Do you really blame her? This is the first time her pride and joy has been here for Thanksgiving since he went away to college."

"You are totally going to write his name in the crust, aren't you?" Willow asked, finally looking up at her best friend.

Buffy nodded and smiled. "I'm sure I could find some letter cookie cutters."

Willow raised her eyebrows at her best friend. "You don't still have a crush on him, do you?"

Buffy shrugged. "Will, I haven't even seen him in years." She said, gathering the supplies she needed to start on her own apple pie. "He could be completely different for all I know!"

"And if he is still the same?" Willow wondered.

Buffy bit her lip and shrugged.

Willow rolled her eyes playfully. "You totally still love him! I swear, you two just need to get married!"

"I already asked him, remember?" Buffy frowned at the memory.

Willow pouted. "It's not like he said no. He probably just, didn't think you were serious… we were pretty young."

"So, who is this friend that your brother is bringing?" Buffy asked, grabbing a pie pan from the stack on the counter. "Are we talking…. guy friend or girl friend?"

Willow gave her best friend a knowing smile. "Guy friend, I'm pretty sure."

"He cute?" Buffy asked, picking up the bag of flour on the counter.

Willow shook her head and laughed. "Are you looking to move on from my brother?"

"I'm trying to change the subject here, Will!" Buffy lightly stomped her foot. "We are focusing on the friend now."

"Okay, whatever you say." Willow smiled. "I don't know if he is cute or not. Mom didn't say which friend was coming."

"He better be cute, for your sake." Buffy smiled teasingly as her best friend spun around quickly, looking at her. "What? You haven't been on a date in a while…"

"Neither have you!" Willow defended herself.

Buffy shook her head as she measured the flour, pouring it into a large bowl. "Yeah, because my last date went oh so well!"

"It wasn't that bad, Buffy." Willow reassured her.

Taking a deep breath, Buffy shook her head again. "Willow, he ditched me in the middle of the dance and Faith found him making out with Harmony Kendell!"

"Okay, so Scott was a man whore." Willow shrugged. "The next date will be better, but you have to actually go on a date for the next date to be better."

"Ditto." The blonde said without looking up from the apple.

"What about that Parker guy?" Willow asked, ignoring her friend's comment. "He seems to be hanging around a lot."

"Yuck! He has a total ick factor to him, Will!" Buffy rolled her eyes. "I heard from a few girls that he is a love 'em and leave 'em guy. What about that Riley guy? The one that we met in the bookstore the first day…"

Willow shrugged. "Do you think he's cute?"

"He isn't bad to look at, if you like… wait, not for me!" Buffy exclaimed when she realized what her best friend was asking. "I meant for you! That guy doesn't even think I have a brain."

"Me?" Willow asked, surprised. "I don't think so… Riley is more your type, all muscles and stuff."

The blonde picked up an apple from the counter, before lowering the apple down to the counter again and pursed her lips. "We are never going to date anyone, are we?"

Willow shook her head. "It's probably for the best, Professor Walsh is already killing us with the heavy course load."

Buffy nodded before grabbing the stick of unsalted butter, cutting it into cubes. "You are totally right, but at least you have an in with the TA."

The redhead glared at her best friend playfully, Riley wasn't her type and Buffy knew it. Willow chose to ignore her best friends last comment and focus on making the pie, her mother had told her that they were making two of everything this year, she didn't understand it but then again, she didn't really understand her mom at times. As far as she knew, it was just going to be her, Buffy, her brother, his friend and their parents. What on earth did they need two apple pies, two pumpkin pies, two chocolate cakes, two pineapple upside down cakes and two chocolate cream pies for? Her mother truly was batty! "We have premade pie crust, you know." Willow reminded her best friend. "You don't have to make it from scratch."

Buffy rolled her eyes playfully.

0o0o0

Buffy hummed as she placed the cookie cutter shaped letters onto the top of the apple pie, then started working on her next assignment, the chocolate cake.

"Oh, my goodness, this is turning more into a Friendsgiving than a Thanksgiving!" Buffy heard Mrs. Rosenberg exclaim.

Buffy smiled to herself, as she picked up the apple pie to move it out of the way until it could be put into the oven. "That's an actual thing now." Buffy glanced up towards the entrance of the kitchen to look at Mrs. Rosenberg, her breath caught in her throat when she saw the object of her affection for as long as she could remember.

Offering the blonde, a half smile, he made his way towards her. "Have we met?"


	2. Like He Never Left

Here is another update for you! I will be uploading chapter 3 very soon, like maybe tomorrow if I have time after work.

Chapter 2: Like He Never Left

Buffy took a deep breath, did he really just ask her that? He had known her since she was born! Buffy was about to speak when someone else came rushing into the kitchen, practically attacking her.

"Buffy! Lady of Buffdom, Duchess of Buffonia! I am in awe!" The tall dark-haired man gushed. "I completely renounce spandex!"

"Xander Harris!" Buffy laughed, playfully swatting the older boy. "Are you the friend that is coming to Thanksgiving? Because now the two of everything completely makes sense!"

"No!" Mrs. Rosenberg exclaimed. "I didn't even know about Xander! Now we need…"

"NO!" Willow exclaimed with large eyes as she walked back into the kitchen from the living room where her father was currently watching the News. "We are NOT making three of everything, mom!" Willow smiled at her older brother. "Hey, big brother."

The older Rosenberg sibling gently wrapped his arms around his younger sister, giving her a hug before she moved on to give Xander a hug. Smiling at his sister, he turned back towards Buffy, still smiling as he leaned his elbow against the counter. "I see you are making your famous Apple Pie."

Buffy smiled back at him, he did remember her!

"You know…" His smile turned teasing as he motioned down to the pie with his name written in crust letters. "It's just Angel now."

"Really?" Buffy asked quietly.

Earning a nod, he turned towards the doorway, he could hear his mother fussing over his bags. Turning back towards Buffy, standing up, Angelus leaned in towards Buffy, whispering. "You've changed, Summers." Before making his way out of the kitchen, towards his mother.

0o0o0

After Buffy had put the cakes in the oven, she had made her way outside to the back porch to sit at the patio table. When she had gone outside she could still hear Mrs. Rosenberg gushing over Angelus. She was slightly surprised that he was going by Angel now, he had always loved his given name, something about how Angelus sounded strong, but Angel sounded girly and he had refused to acknowledge it as even a nickname in public. Buffy looked behind her when she heard the sound of the sliding door opening and Angelus quietly snuck out.

Glancing behind him quickly, then making his way over to the patio table where Buffy was sitting, he sat beside her, whispering. "I don't think she spotted me."

Buffy smiled at the older boy. "Oh please, you love it."

Angelus shook his head. "Not right now! I just told her that I didn't just bring one or two friends… I brought four."

"Angelus!" Buffy exclaimed. "How could you do that!? Your mom is already driving Willow crazy and I was almost afraid to come in here this morning!"

"They had nowhere else to go." The dark-haired boy shrugged. "Oh, wait a minute. You've got…" Angelus motioned towards her face, earning a confused expression from the blonde. Reaching over, he gently wiped a small amount of flour off her cheek. "I got it." He whispered before dropping his hand from her face, slowly. Buffy smiled softly at him, as he continued. "Mom's freaking out about where they are going to sleep. The original plan was that we would all get a couple hotel rooms together, so we didn't over take the whole house, but my friend just called and said the hotels are all booked."

Buffy chuckled and shook her head. "You didn't book the rooms in advance on a holiday? What did they teach you at that fancy private college?"

"You would think for $70,000 a term, they would at least teach me how to reserve a hotel room." Angelus winked at her.

Buffy laughed again, it was almost like no time had passed since the last time they saw each other. "You know, my mom and Dawn went out of town for the week, if your friends wanted to stay at my house…"

"You would do that?" Angelus asked, seriously.

Buffy nodded. "It's not like they are going to be able to find anywhere else to stay and I'm thinking the house would be a little overcrowded with five guys and Willow with your parents."

Angelus nodded. "You always were pretty smart."

Buffy laughed and shook her head, now she knew he was teasing her. She was far from stupid, but Willow was the smart one.

"That would be extremely generous of you, Buffy." Angelus smiled. "…but, only on one condition."

"Your friends have nowhere to stay!" Buffy laughed. "How could you have a condition?"

Angelus raised an eyebrow at Buffy, teasingly. "I stay with them."

"Angelus, did you forget that it's a three-bedroom house and you have four friends already?" She questioned.

The oldest Rosenberg child shook his head. "Buffy, I'm not leaving you in a house with men that you don't know."

"You know them!" Buffy exclaimed. "Why would you be friends with them if they were shady?"

"Hey, we have already established that I'm not even bright enough to book a hotel room…" He reminded her. "My choice in friends could be questionable."

"Point proven." Buffy smiled teasingly. "I hope your friends don't mind doubling up."

Angel shrugged, leaning back in the chair. "I volunteer to double up."

Buffy leaned back into her chair, as well, then paused. "They aren't going to like, go through my mom or Dawn's stuff, are they? I have heard horror stories about how guys go through girl's dressers!"

"Eww! No! That would be gross!" Angelus exclaimed, then once again offered her his trademark teasing grin. "Now your dresser, no promises."

"Oh no!" Buffy shook her head. "My room is off limited. Completely!"

Angelus pretended to pout for a moment, before he smiled again, pulling out his cell phone. "I'm just going to let the guys know that there is somewhere for them to stay now." After sending a quick text, he turned to look back towards Buffy. "So, how is school, Summers? You are going to Sunnydale University with Wills, right?"

Buffy pouted and slumped in her chair. "School hard."

"Don't I know it." Angelus nodded. "It will feel so much better when you graduate though."

Buffy looked towards Angelus, unconvinced. "I'm just trying to make it through this semester."

"Oh, come on! It can't be that bad!" Angelus laughed. "You have Will."

"She is the one good thing!" Buffy sighed. "Life got so much easier when we became roomies. My last roommate drove me nuts!"

Angelus laughed. "You have been in college for… almost four months, and you have already had multiple roommates? What are you doing?"

"Me?!" Buffy exclaimed. "It's not my fault Kathy couldn't hack it. People have been dropping like flies on that campus, besides, she ironed her jeans."

"Evil!" Angelus gasped.

Buffy nodded, with large eyes. "And listened to Cher, ALL the time! The same song, on repeat!"

Angelus shook his head. "Pure evil."

Buffy nodded again. "Exactly."

"What about everything else?" Angelus asked. "What about classes, boyfriends, parties… you must go to a lot of parties."

The blonde shrugged. "Porter Dorm is really good about throwing the "Day That Ends in Y Party", I normally sit those out, they can get crazy. But, I have been known to attend the occasional "Somebody Sneezed Party"."

"Ah." Angelus sighed. "To be young and attend a college party."

"But Will, she's your party animal." Buffy nodded. "She normally tells me where all the parties are!"

Angelus narrowed his eyes at his younger sister's best friend. "I find that hard to believe."

"I'm telling you, Willow wants to penetrate, thrust and spurt." Buffy said, turning towards him.

Angelus forced himself out of his chair quickly. "Okay, that is something I never wanted to know about my LITTLE sister and I will NEVER get that out of my head."

Buffy giggled, she loved to see Angelus squirm. "Those were her own words! Honest! She said it about learning, but she did say it!"

Angelus laughed as he sat back down beside Buffy. "You get me going, Summers."

"I know." She smiled brightly at him. "It's fun."

Shaking his head, he turned towards her. "There is… none of … THAT, going on with Willow and anyone… right?"

Buffy shook her head. "Will is single."

"And what about you?" Angelus asked curiously. "Boyfriend?... Girlfriend?"

Buffy raised her eyebrows at the only man who had ever held her heart. "Well, there is this one Professor, she's totally into me."

Angelus looked at Buffy seriously for a moment and then laughed. "You're trying to get me going again… Right? I mean, you…"

Buffy smiled. "You are the one that suggested it."

Shrugging, Angelus looked down at his feet. "Well, it's been a while… I didn't want to assume…"

"What?" Buffy teased. "You didn't want to assume that I was still into guys?" The blonde laughed. "I am, still into guys that is… I just don't have a boyfriend."

"Okay." Angelus nodded.

"What about you?" Buffy smiled at him. "Girlfriend? … Boyfriend?"

Angelus shook his head.

"So, how long are you going to be in town?" Buffy wondered.

Angelus shrugged. "I don't know, I was thinking about staying."

"Really?" Buffy raised her eyebrows in shock. "Willow hadn't mentioned that, when did you decide that?"

Angelus shrugged with a smile. "About a minute ago."

**10 Years Earlier**

Angelus sat at the dining room table doing his math homework, letting out a sigh, he wiped his hair out of his face. He was ten years old, he didn't need a babysitter! But, here he was, sitting with his little sister's best friend while she colored in her Disney princess coloring book. He didn't understand why he couldn't stay home while his mom took his sister to her doctor's appointment. Looking over at his sister's best friend, his lips curled up into a small smile, at least Buffy wasn't annoying like some of his sister's other friends. He couldn't stand his sister's friend, Cordelia Chase, she was always chasing him around or bragging about something that her dad bought her. His friend, Xander, teased him that Cordelia was in love with him and she wouldn't stop chasing him until he gave in.

Buffy smiled softly, swinging her feet underneath the table. "I'm going to wear a princess dress just like this one when we get married, Angel."

Angelus looked at the small blonde with large eyes, not Buffy too! He already had his hands full with Cordelia. "What?"

The blonde looked up at him with a bigger smile. "Don't worry, I will find one on sale."

Joyce Summers smiled at the two kids as she walked into the dining room. "How is the homework coming, Angelus?"

Shaking his head, he turned towards Mrs. Summers. "Um… uh…. Fine?"

"Mommy, how much does Cinderella's dress cost?" The small blonde wondered.

Joyce smiled at her oldest daughter. "I don't know, Sweetie, but I'm sure it's a lot of money."

"Don't worry, I will get it on sale." The girl repeated, then looked down at her hands, counting on her fingers. "I still have ten more years."

Angelus looked from the girl to her mother, what was happening?

Joyce looked at her daughter in interest, her smile never leaving her face. "Ten more years until what?" Before the little girl could answer her mother, the sound of a baby crying caught the woman's attention. "Oh, hold on, Sweetie, I have to get your sister."

Buffy started to pull the page she had been coloring out of her coloring book and then handed it to Angelus. "Here, you can keep this, but you have to make sure it's safe, Angel."

"Why do you always call me Angel?" He wondered.

"Because you're my Angel." The little girl shrugged.

Angelus shook his head. "It sounds so girly."

Buffy pouted at his remark. "No, it doesn't."

As much as he didn't like being called Angel, at least Buffy was the only one that called him that, and he knew she would never stop, she had been calling him Angel for as long as he could remember, and he never knew why. She was too stubborn. "And why do you think we are going to get married?"

"Because I love you." She stated, jumping down from her chair at the table. "That's what people do when they love each other."

Angelus raised his eyebrows in shock. "When did you decide that?"

Buffy shrugged with a smile. "A minute ago."

Angelus watched Buffy walk around the table and into the kitchen, a small smile played across his lips.


	3. Angel's Friends

Okay, you get an update before work instead of after. Maybe I will post chapter 4 after work! Thank you for the reviews, favs and follows!

Allison117: I'm excited to be writing again too! Hopefully I can get back into regular updates on my other stories!

Chapter 3: Angel's Friends

Buffy hurried into the kitchen to pull the cakes out of the oven, placing them on the cooling rack, she replaced the cakes with the pies before turning her attention to her best friend. She didn't have much time to get everything situated at home before Angelus brought his friends over. She tried to mentally make a list of things that she needed to do. "Hey Will, can you pull the pies for me when they are done? I need to get home real fast."

"Sure." Willow nodded, then looked concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Huh?" Buffy asked, looking up at her best friend as she took the oven mitts off. "Oh yeah, I just need to get the house ready. Angelus' friends are going to be staying there because every hotel and motel is booked! Can you believe that out of five guys, none of them thought to make reservations?"

Willow smiled. "They are boys. The whole reason guys get married is so they don't have to think about stuff like that."

Buffy laughed at her best friend. "They don't think about it anyway. Okay, I'm out of here, Will." The blonde gave her best friend a quick hug. "I have to change the sheets on the beds… mom normally puts out flowers for guests, should I do that for a bunch of guys?"

Willow shook her head, she still didn't know which friends were going to be coming, or if she even knew them but chances were that a bunch of newly college graduate guys didn't care about flowers. "They probably wouldn't even notice them. Got any dirty magazines? Those they might like."

Buffy laughed again before heading outside to jump into her mother's jeep.

A few moments later, Mrs. Rosenberg walked into the kitchen, looking around she started to panic. "Where is Buffy?"

Willow looked up at her mom, from where she was cleaning up the counter. "She had to go home, she will be back to help out. Don't worry, mom."

Sheila Rosenberg nodded, but didn't look convinced. She was stressed out before when her son had told her that he was bringing a friend for Thanksgiving, and once she learned that there were actually four, she thought she was going to have a breakdown. She was very thankful for her daughter and Buffy.

"Yeah, mom." Angelus smiled as he walked up behind his mom. "Buffy is going to let the guys stay at her house since we couldn't find a hotel."

"Oh, my!" Sheila sighed, relieved. "That girl is a life saver!"

Angelus made his way over to the front door when he heard a knock. Opening the door, Angelus' friends walked in, looking around the house before saying hello to his mother. "Buffy ran home to get some stuff set up, we can head over in a few minutes."

"Finally!" An African American man smiled. "We get to meet the famous Buffy."

Willow eyed the African American, she had never seen him before and she was curious by what he meant by 'the famous Buffy'. "Her mom and sister are out of town so there will be more space there than there is here." Willow quietly gasped when she saw another one of her older brother's friends come into view, how could Angelus leave out the fact that HE was coming! She looked horrible and had flour all over her from her little flour fight with Buffy earlier!

"Hey Willow." The short redheaded man smiled.

"Hi Oz." Willow squeaked, embarrassed that he was seeing her such a mess. And what about on Thanksgiving? He was going to see her stuff herself so full that she can't move? No, she wouldn't allow herself to eat that much this year.

Oz was the only guy that really caught Willow's attention. She had thought he was really cute from the moment she laid eyes on him when she went to visit her brother at college a few years earlier. Although, Buffy always encouraged Willow to tell Oz she liked him, she never got up the courage to do it. Ah! Why did Angelus have to bring Oz without telling her!?

"I'm sure you boys want to get settled in." Sheila smiled, glancing over at her daughter, she knew something was up. "Why don't you head over to the Summers house and come back over later if you would like. I'm sure you had a long flight."

"Flight?" An Irish man asked. "We had the option to fly? Why did we drive over 30 hours then?"

The African American rolled his eyes. "Because Angel wanted his car."

"Whatever." Angelus laughed. "Well, you already know Oz, but mom, this is Charles Gunn…" He said pointing to the African American, then motioned towards the Irish man. "This is Allen Francis Doyle, but he likes to go by Francis."

"No, I don't." The Irish man disagreed. "Just Doyle."

Sheila smiled at the young men. "It's very nice to meet you."

Willow smiled and nodded, trying to avoid eye contact with Oz. Gently, she moved her short red hair in front of her eye, if she couldn't see him then he couldn't see her, right? Isn't that how it worked? Of course, that isn't how it worked! Gosh, if Buffy was here, she would be making fun of her!

Angelus looked at his younger sister oddly, then turned towards his friends. "Why don't we go drop our stuff off at Buffy's?"

Sheila Rosenberg turned from her daughter to face her older son. "Our stuff?"

Angelus nodded. "Mom, they're my friends, I'm not going to just drop them off somewhere they have never been."

Sheila raised her eyebrows. "We will discuss this later."

0o0o0

Angelus walked into the Summers house with his friends behind him, carrying their bags. He was relieved that his mother hadn't made more of a scene about him going to Buffy's house, simply saying that they would discuss it later meant that she didn't want to talk about it in front of his friends. He knew she wanted him to stay with the family for the holidays, he just couldn't take being smothered by her anymore. He hadn't even been there for a full day yet, and he already missed having his own space.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Charles Gunn asked his friend, walking further into the foyer of the Summers house.

Angelus shook his head. "This place is like a second home to me, I don't remember ever knocking."

Buffy made her way towards the stairs when she heard the front door open. She smiled when she saw Angelus, Xander and three other guys walk in. "Hey guys!" She waved, walking further down the stairs, until she stopped at the bottom right beside Angelus.

"Guys, this is Buffy Summers." Angelus smiled at her, then turned to his friends. "This is Charlie, Francis and Oz."

The African American and Irish man both glared at Angelus, before the African American spoke up. "Gunn and Doyle. We go by our last names."

"Good to know." Buffy laughed. "Xander? What are you doing here? Don't you have a family?"

Xander nodded. "They're scary."

"Yes, they are." The blonde nodded back. "So, I got my mom's and my sister's rooms ready, then there is the…"

Suddenly, Xander ran into the living room towards the couch, throwing himself on the cushions. "I call the couch! It's already got my body indented into the pull out, anyway."

"Can't deny that either." Buffy teased. "Angelus said that he will double up with someone, but my mom's bed is a King size and my sister's bed is a full size, so if another person wanted to double up then they could, or we have a cot in the basement that we could bring up."

Doyle looked his shorter friend up and down. "Oz should have to cot, he's the smallest."

"I prefer the term fun size." Oz replied dryly.

Buffy smiled at the man that was around her height. "Me too."

"So, who wants to sleep where?" Angelus asked, looking at Oz, Doyle and Gunn.

Oz shrugged. "I'll take the cot. But I'm not sleeping in the living room, Xander snores."

"My mom has the biggest room, the cot can fit in there." Buffy laughed, she knew from experience that Xander snored… and drooled in his sleep.

0o0o0

Buffy sat at the dining room table pursing her lips as she wrote in her notebook, she had been jotting down notes for several days so that she could write her paper, but nothing seemed good enough. She had written and re-written her paper several times. How was it possible that Willow's paper had come so easily to her? It seemed like everything in the education department came easily to Willow, and Angelus for that matter!

The blonde glanced up from her laptop to see Angelus at the bottom of the stairs, he smiled at her and made his way over to her, sitting beside her. "What are you working on, Summers?"

Buffy pouted. "Homework." Setting her pen down on top of her notebook, she sighed, she needed a break. "Everyone all set now?"

Angelus nodded, looking down at the blonde's notebook.

"You figured out who you are going to snuggle up with tonight?" Buffy laughed.

Angelus smiled up at the blonde. "I already knew who I was going to snuggle up with."

Gunn walked into the dining room, laughing. "Angel isn't going to be snuggling up to no one, his mom wants him back at her house."

Buffy laughed and shook her head. "I didn't think it would go over very well with her if you stayed here, Angelus."

"She said we would discuss it." Angelus told Buffy, then shrugged as Gunn walked into the living room where Xander had finally sat up on the couch. "I don't know what it was, it felt like I was back in high school again, trying to get permission to go to a party." He shook his head. "I didn't like it."

Buffy nodded, she didn't know what it was about Angelus, but Sheila Rosenberg had always dotted on him. "What time do you have to go back?"

Angelus shrugged again. "I'm killing time." Buffy gave him a knowing smiled, as he nodded towards her homework. "What are you working on?"

Buffy groaned, lowering her head to the table with a thud, before repeating herself. "English paper."

"Is it giving you trouble?" Angelus smiled at her, as she raised her head back up to look at him.

The blonde nodded at him. "You could say that. I have restarted it probably three times now… or was it four? I lost track."

"Lucky for you, this is kind of my thing." Angelus smiled wider at her.

Buffy smiled softly at him. "Isn't everything your thing?"

"What can I say, I'm gifted." Angelus teased her, then turned serious. "I did go to school for this, you know? If Northwestern University taught me anything, it's how to perfect my writing, otherwise, I wouldn't have been signed with a publishing company."

"You got signed?!" Buffy asked excitedly, it had been his dream to get signed with a publisher and be able to write books for a living, that was the whole reason he had gone all the way to Illinois to go to college, it was one of the best schools for writing. "Are you serious?!"

Angelus nodded with a smiled, right before Buffy jumped up from her chair, laughing as she hugged him. "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!"

Gunn, Xander and Oz turned to look towards the dining room where Buffy and Angelus were still hugging. "Those two just need to get together already." Xander nodded towards them. "They have been dancing around it for years."

Oz nodded in agreement.

Gunn laughed. "Yeah, we had never even met her, and we already knew that."

"He talked about her enough." Oz added.

"I think that's the longest hug I have ever seen." Gunn commented. "Wouldn't it start to get awkward."

Xander shook his head. "Not with those two."

"That's a long hug." Gunn noted again, looking from the pair in the dining room to his two friends in the living room. "Like a long ass hug."

"Oh." Oz shook his head, watching as Angelus turned his head into Buffy's hair. "And he smelled her hair."

Gunn shook his head, as Doyle made his way into the living room. "He smelled her hair?" Doyle asked, leaning to see into the dining room. "You don't ever smell a girl's hair!"

"He didn't stand a chance." Gunn shook his head. "He's a goner."

"When it comes to Buffy…" Xander shook his head. "He's been a goner for at least ten years!"

Buffy smiled up at Angelus, giggling as she pulled away from him. "I knew you would make all your dreams come true. No one stands in the way of Angelus Rosenberg."

"Thanks." He laughed. "I have already started on a short story."

Buffy got comfortable in her chair, leaning towards the table in interest. "What is your story about?"

Angelus paused for a moment, before clearing his throat. "It's, uh, it's actually about a guy that discovers he is in love with his childhood friend."

"Awww." Buffy smiled dreamily. "How does it end? Does she love him too? She does, right? That would be so tragic if she didn't!"

"I don't know yet." He offered her a small smile.

"I have always envied you." She leaned back against the chair, picking her pen back up. "Knowing exactly what you want out of life and going for it. Me, I'm still undecided in college and have no idea where I'm going in life."

"I seem to remember that you knew one thing that you wanted." Angelus teased her. She was always very adamant about marrying him, ever since that day that she colored the Cinderella princess dress in her coloring book.

Buffy furrowed her brow. "Really? And what was that?"

Angelus laughed. "I seem to remember you saving your pennies for a princess dress."

Buffy bit her lip for a moment. "You mean for prom? That didn't happen."

Angelus shook his head slightly but didn't think she saw him, he hadn't meant her prom dress. He was referring to her wedding dress, he never knew that she wanted a princess dress for prom. "Did you decide to go with a different prom dress?"

Buffy shook her head this time. "I didn't go to prom, at least not my prom." She gave him a small smile. "The prom I went to was enough." Taking a deep breath, she looked back down at her notes. "Anyway, I should…"

Angelus nodded. "What is your paper about?"

"A moment." Buffy shrugged. "We have to pick a moment in our lives that changed everything, that helped shape us into the person that we have become."

"Okay." Angelus nodded again, then looked towards her laptop. "So, what's with the computer?"

Buffy chewed her lip sheepishly. "I'm googling other people's moments."

Angelus laughed. "Buffy! You have got to have at least one defining moment in your life. It's YOUR life, which means…" Reaching across the table, he shut her laptop. "No more googling other people's moments."

"But I found a really good one!" Buffy pouted playfully. "I came to America from Hong Kong to further my education…"

Laughing again, this time harder, Angelus shook his head. "Buffy, you aren't from Honk Kong, you were born and raised, right here in Sunnydale, California. I have known you since the day you were born, I know that you have had so many great moments in your life. Pick the one that means the most to you, something that changed you. You've got this, Summers, you just have to write from your heart. I know you have a lot of that."

"A lot of what?" Buffy wondered.

Angelus smiled gently. "Heart." He reached into his back pocket when he heard his phone alert him of a new text message. Looking at the screen, he tossed it on the table, gently before sighing. "Mom."

"You should probably get back." Buffy whispered. As much as she didn't want Angelus to leave, she knew how his mother was and if he stayed at her house, then she knew the chances of her actually writing her paper was pretty low.

Angelus nodded. "You are coming over tomorrow to bake more, right?"

Buffy nodded.

"What time?" He asked.

"Hmmm." Buffy thought for a moment. "Maybe around noon, I really need to get this paper started… although, that would mean coming up with a topic first."

Angelus smiled as he got up from the kitchen table. "You got this, Summers." He whispered before making his way towards the front door and letting his friends know that he was leaving. He frowned at the sight before him, he could tell that his friends had been watching him and Buffy.

**Four Years Earlier**

Angelus watched the blonde in the strapless lilac dress from across the school gymnasium, as she laughed at something his friend was saying to her, knowing Xander, it was probably some corny joke. He was happy that he had asked her to go to prom with him. He had told her that his girlfriend, Darla, couldn't make it tonight, so he needed a date to the prom, but the truth was, he had told Darla that he wasn't going to prom. Darla was older than he was, so there was no chance that she would show up and cause a scene. He had the intention of asking Buffy to attend the dance with him the whole time. Tonight, was the night he was going to tell Buffy how he felt.

Making his was over to Buffy and Xander, Angelus handed Buffy her cup of fruit punch and she smiled at him, before giggled as she thought of what Xander had said. Angelus smiled at her, she was always so sweet to his friends, especially Xander, even though no one thought Xander was funny. "I'm really happy that you came tonight, Buffy."

Xander eyed his friend and the blonde, before taking a sip of his own drink.

"Me too." Buffy smiled. "I'm sorry that Darla couldn't come, though. I always seem to be filling in for your girlfriends when they can't make it, like last year at your family's Christmas party." The blonde shrugged teasingly. "I'm just filler Buffy."

"No, you aren't." Angelus shook his head. "But, you do always seem to be saving me."

Buffy giggled. "If the past is any indication, Mr. Rosenberg, you are the one that always saves me."

Angelus shrugged. "I guess it's kind of my job."

Buffy nodded, he had helped her with so much, whether it was homework or boys. He was always there for her. "I guess I'm going to have to be a big girl now and save myself with you going to Northwestern. I don't know what me and Will are going to do without you."

"Luckily, I'm not leaving for a couple more months." He smiled, as he held his hand out to her to dance. "But, promise me that you two will at least try to stay out of trouble."

Buffy offered him a smile and a slight nod, as Angelus wrapped his arm around her waist. "We can try, I don't make promises that I can't keep though."

"That's reassuring!" He laughed, before lightly rubbing his thumb on her hand, as it rested in his. "Buffy, I…"

"Angelus!" Exclaimed a voice that he knew all too well, she always did have the worst timing.

Angelus turned to the brunette that had called his name, but Buffy asked his question for him. "What are you doing here, Cordelia?"

Turning her head slightly to her friend, Cordelia continued to smile. "Oh hey, Buffy… what are you doing here?"

"I was invited." Buffy answered, even though the taller brunette hadn't answered her question. This was senior prom and Buffy and Cordelia weren't old enough to attend unless they had been invited as someone's date. "What are you doing here?"

Cordelia shrugged with a smile. "I have my ways." She turned back to Angelus. "Would you like to dance?"

"Uh…" Angelus looked to Buffy, Cordelia could clearly see that he had been in the middle of dancing with one of her best friends. It had been six long years and Cordelia was still chasing him.

Buffy looked towards Angelus, questioningly. She knew how Cordelia felt about Angelus, but he had never mentioned how he felt about her. What was really upsetting was that Cordelia knew how Buffy felt about Angelus, and she continued her advancements on Angelus anyway. They were supposed to be best friends- Buffy, Cordelia and Willow, they had been best friends since before they even started pre-school but when it came to Angelus, Cordelia never backed down. Buffy knew she didn't stand a chance against Cordelia, and Angelus was leaving in a couple months for college anyway. Slipping her hand out of his, Buffy took a step away from Angelus. Giving him a tight smile, Buffy nodded slightly before making her way back towards Xander.


	4. Buffy's Moment

Here is chapter 4 for ya'all! Sadly, there is only 6 chapters in this story but I'm going to get working on New Years in Handcuffs, which is seriously overdue for an update, but I already have the chapter halfway done so hopefully it isn't too long. It was another one of those stories that I lost when my computer crashed.

Thank you for the reviews!

Chapter 4: Buffy's Moment

Buffy walked into the Rosenberg house the next morning to help Willow prepare for Thanksgiving, they needed to put the frosting on the cakes and put the center piece for the table together. She still wasn't sure if Willow had decided on the pumpkin vase or something more elegant. Buffy wasn't a very artistic person, that was Dawn and her mom, so if it were up to her, they would just do the pumpkin vase. Looking around the house, Buffy noticed how calm it was, the opposite of the day before. Where was Mrs. Rosenberg running around in a frenzy? Where was Willow telling her mom to calm down? Where was Angelus trying to escape his mother's constant attention? Why couldn't she hear Mr. Rosenberg watching the News in the next room? Shrugging, Buffy got to work on gathering the ingredients to make the frosting.

"Jumping right in, I see." Angelus smiled, as he walked into the kitchen.

Buffy nodded. "Where is everyone?"

"Mom and Will went to get some last-minute food for tomorrow, and Dad went to visit one of his old friends." Angelus smirked. "I think that's code for he can't stand my mom's erratic behavior anymore."

"Ah." Buffy laughed. "Two things I know very well. You know, even when me and Will make a grocery list, we always forget something."

"My cupboards could be completely bare, and I still leave the store with only beer." Angelus laughed.

Chuckling, Buffy shook her head. "Typical man."

"And here I thought I wasn't a typical man." Angelus smirked.

Buffy shrugged, slightly shaking her head to move her blonde hair from her face. "Maybe you are now, I don't know. It's been a while."

"Too long." Angelus nodded.

"And who's fault is that?" She teased as she measured out the correct amount of powdered sugar.

"You're right." Angelus nodded. "I could have tried to visit more, but like you said, school hard."

Buffy laughed. "Since when is anything hard for you?"

Angelus shrugged and watched her begin to carefully mix the ingredients for the vanilla buttercream frosting. "There is a thing or two that isn't exactly easy for me."

"Like what?" She wondered, stirring the contents of the bowl.

"Well…" Angelus shrugged. "my friends make fun of me when I can't seem to tell a girl that I like her."

Buffy laughed out loud. "That must be new. You had no problem telling Darla that you liked her, and she was like 50 years older than you."

Angelus winced, at the time he had really wanted to date Darla, but looking back, it wasn't one of his best decisions. "She wasn't 50 years older than me, and in my defense, she looked younger than she actually was so when I asked her out, I didn't know her age."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Buffy laughed before giving him a small smile. "Do you still like cream cheese frosting?"

"Of course." Angelus smiled, leaning across the kitchen counter before attempting to scoop some frosting out of the bowl with his finger but earned a light slap from Buffy.

Buffy gave him a teasing look before looking in the refrigerator for any extra cream cheese.

"Looks like mom did her usual holiday fridge cleaning." Angelus offered, looking around Buffy at the nearly empty refrigerator.

Buffy nodded before closing the refrigerator door. "She always had to make room for the holiday food, no extra food allowed in the fridge." She chuckled. "I'm sure she missed you this year. You always could clear the fridge for her quickly."

"I was a growing boy." Angelus shrugged with a smile.

"I will have to go pick up some cream cheese then… would you want chocolate or vanilla cream cheese frosting?" Buffy asked as she grabbed the cake sponge out of the freezer.

Angelus shrugged. "Vanilla is fine."

"Oh, did Will happen to mention if she picked what center piece she wanted to do?" She asked, not looking up from assembling the cake in front of her.

Angelus shook his head. "She did say something about leaving it up to you since she was going to be busy with mom today."

Buffy let out a sigh and nodded. "I'm going with the pumpkin vase then. I so didn't inherit my mom's artists eye. I will stop at Michaels when I go get the cream cheese."

"Need some company?" Angelus asked with a smile.

Buffy smiled back at him. "What about your friends?"

Angelus raised his eyebrows. "You want them to come too?"

"No." She laughed. "But they don't really know this area… well, other than Xander, and you are just going to leave them alone?"

"What were they doing when you left your house?" He asked her.

"Sleeping." Buffy told him. "I was working on my paper for a while and the whole house was dead."

"That sounds like them." He laughed. "They will be out for a while. How is your paper coming?"

Shrugging, Buffy gave him a smile. "Almost done. I'm going to proof read and edit it tonight."

"That's great!" He smiled widely. "What moment did you pick?"

Shaking her head, Buffy smiled. "That, you will never know."

"Oh! Come on!" Angelus laughed. "If I helped you with your paper in anyway, then you should tell me, or at least let me read your paper."

"Read my paper?!" Buffy laughed, as she stopped frosting the cake before her. "Angelus, you are the smartest person that I have ever met… right up there with Willow! I don't want either one of you reading my paper!"

"Buffy, what does that have to do with reading your paper?" He asked with a small smile. "Wouldn't you want someone to proof read it?"

Buffy shook her head, the moment she had picked wasn't something she wanted him to know about, in fact, it was something that Willow didn't even know about. Although, she felt that she needed to tell Willow and letting her best friend read her paper might be easier than just coming out and saying it. "Not you. Willow, maybe."

"Ouch." Angelus whispered, placing his hand over his heart. "That hurts, Summers."

"You'll live." Buffy smiled before returning to the cake in front of her to finish the frosting job. "I'm sure."

"You don't know that, Summers." He teased her, before tapping the kitchen counter in front of him. "So, we should get going to get the stuff to make the center piece."

A dramatic sigh escaped the blonde's lips. "You really want to go with me? Don't you remember what happened the last time we went shopping together?"

Angelus nodded. "Immense fun!"

"Excruciating embarrassment." She corrected him.

"Okay, so you get in the cart this time." He smiled widely. "And I will push you."

An amused chuckle came from the blonde, as much as she didn't want to admit it, she always had a lot of fun with him, even when he was cramming his large eighteen-year-old Greek God like form in a small shopping cart. "Have you matured at all in the last three years?"

Angelus nodded before shrugging slightly. "Little bit." His brown eyes twinkled happily. "You?"

"A little." She smiled, placing the lid on the cake stand and turning towards the kitchen door.

"So…" Angel started to follow her. "Am I pushing you?"

"I'm not singing the SpongBob song." She commented without looking back at him.

"Oh, come on, Summers!" Angelus exclaimed from a few steps behind her. "You're messing with tradition!"

0o0o0

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" Buffy shouted as she laughed from her spot in the larger basket of the cart.

"SpongeBob SquarePants!" Angelus shouted with a smile as he pushed the cart quickly through Michael's Arts and Crafts Store.

Buffy shook her head but her smiled never left her face. "Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!"

"SpongeBob SquarePants!" Angelus laughed as he pushed the cart faster, jumping up onto the bar on the bottom of the cart and coasting down the aisle.

Buffy waved her hands for Angelus to stop, as she continued to laugh. "Okay, no more SpongeBob."

"Fine." Angelus hopped down from the cart, placing his feet on the floor to slow down the cart. "Now do me!"

The small blonde laughed as she turned around in the cart to look at him. "Excuse me, mister! You said you would push me!"

"Ruin my fun." Angelus mock pouted, then looked around the store. "Sunnydale got a Michaels, who would have thought."

Buffy smiled at him teasingly. "Yeah, we are finally catching up with the rest of the world."

"Still no Walmart though?" He questioned.

The blonde shook her head.

"Good." He smiled back at her. "They are taking over the world. So, what do we need for this center piece?"

"A fake pumpkin, they are right over there." Buffy pointed to her left from her place in the cart. "They will cut it for us if we ask them too."

Angelus raised his eye brows at the small blonde.

"What?" She shrugged. "This is Dawn's favorite place, she practically lives here."

"Ah." Angelus smiled. "How is Dawnie?"

"Annoying as ever." Buffy rolled her eyes playfully. "She's got this whole teen thing going on, very dramatic."

Laughing, Angelus watched the blonde for a moment. "Like you were never dramatic?"

"Whatever." Buffy mumbled. She had to admit that there might have been times when she was dramatic, but never as bad as Dawn. "Your mom will want real flowers, I'm assuming…"

"More than likely." Angelus nodded as they reached the fake pumpkins and Buffy reached into the bin holding the round orange plastic pumpkins.

Buffy nodded, she didn't expect Mrs. Rosenberg to accept fake flowers. "We can stop at the flower shop on Main."

"That place is still there?" He asked. Angelus had ordered flowers for Buffy every year for her birthday from the small shop on Main Street. He never did find out if she knew they were from him, he always signed the card as her secret admirer. "That's where I got your corsage for prom."

"Yeah." Buffy shrugged. "I'm pretty sure mom's boyfriend keeps them in business. She's known as Flower Getting Lady these days."

"Your mom is dating?" Angelus asked, surprised.

Buffy nodded. "She has had a few boyfriends, the current guy's name is Brian. He isn't that bad, I just don't like her telling me about their sex stuff." She shivered, as if the thought of her mother ever having sex grossed her out.

"What's that like for you?" He wondered. It had been really hard for Buffy to deal with her parent's divorce, he had tried to be there for her as much as possible, so had Willow, but it was new territory for them. They had never experienced divorce before and they didn't always know what to say. They had always been close, but once Joyce and Hank divorced, Buffy and Dawn had started spending more time with the Rosenberg family when Joyce had to work or run an errand. Dawn was only a year old at the time, and Buffy had told him that she envied Dawn because she had been so young and didn't know what it was like to have a dad around and suddenly have him missing.

"Uh…" Buffy shook her head, giving him an odd look, as if he should already know the answer. "grossed out. Who would want to hear about their mother's sex life?"

Angelus laughed as he pushed the cart. "I meant that she is dating."

Buffy pouted for a moment, then shrugged when she realized she had misunderstood him. "I'm fine with it now, not so much when it was the first guy she brought home. I had a lot of parental issues to work through… or so Xander said."

"Xander?" He questioned, as he stopped in his tracks. "Xander knew? Why didn't you tell me?"

The blonde raised her eyebrows at the gorgeous dark-haired man. "We haven't really been overly talk-y the last couple of years."

"On top of visiting more, I guess I should have called more." Angelus looked at her apologetically.

Glancing down at her lap, Buffy bit her lip. They actually hadn't talked since… Buffy took a deep breath and shook her head, she wasn't going to think about that right now. She tried not to think about it at all, it was just better that way. From the way Angelus was acting, he certainly didn't remember it. "Water over the bridge." She waved her hands, dismissing his apology, but then paused. "… or under the bridge, whatever."

Angelus shook his head as he walked around the cart, bending down to look at her in the eyes. "I haven't been a very good friend."

"Well, technically, I'm just your kid sister's friend." She shrugged with a teasing smile.

"No." He shook his head again. "You are more than just my sister's friend."

"Like I said, water- bridge." She shrugged off. "Besides, a study showed that kids are normally only friends for 5 years and we were way beyond that!"

"And friendships that were formed as late as seventh grade only lasted a year." He smiled down at her, he didn't think she would be one to read University studies. She was always surprising him. "I read that study too."

"At least 1% of the seventh-grade friendships lasted." She said with a hopeful look before Angelus started pushing the cart towards the checkout lanes. They still needed to go to the grocery store and the flower shop before heading back to the house.

0o0o0

"You weren't here when we got back." Willow noted as she watched Buffy spreading the cream cheese frosting, she had just made, onto the cake. She had known that Buffy had been there because there was already one cake finished with butter cream frosting.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I had to grab a few things. Your mom didn't have the stuff to make cream cheese frosting, not to mention the center pieces for the table."

"Angelus went with?" The redhead asked, earning another nod from Buffy. "How did that go?"

Buffy paused for a moment to look up at her best friend. "It went. It was just errands."

"Do you still feel those… feelings?" Willow questioned with large eyes.

"Feelings…?" Buffy asked, placing the cake scraper in the large bowl of cream cheese frosting.

Willow nodded quickly. "I just ask because mom told me today that he is seeing someone, and I don't want you to get your feelings hurt."

"Will, I appreciate the concern. I do, but I'm not going to get my feelings hurt." She smiled softly at her friend. "Besides, he told me he wasn't seeing anyone."

"Really? He did?" Willow asked confused. "But mom offered to set him up with someone and he told her no because he wasn't available. Hey! Wait a minute…" The redhead paused. "Why did he tell you?"

Buffy shrugged. "We were just talking about what is currently going on in our lives… you know, college and his inability to book a hotel room."

"Oh." Willow whispered. Willow found herself a little envious of Buffy, she hadn't even had time to catch up with her big brother on life, but he had already started catching up with Buffy. "I don't know why he told you and mom two different things."

Buffy pouted for a second, thinking. "Maybe he didn't want me to know that he has a girlfriend."

"Why wouldn't he want you to know?" She asked, slightly confused.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Buffy sighed, she hated keeping things from Willow, but she had been for three years. "I don't know. Come on, lets hurry so we can move on to the center pieces."

0o0o0

Buffy walked into her house, setting the car keys on the stand next to the door before closing the door. The stand felt oddly empty without the flowers that her mother was constantly getting when her dates picked her up. A small pout formed on the blonde's face, none of her dates ever brought her flowers. The only guy to ever bring her flowers was Angelus when he picked her up for his prom and that secret admirer she had for years, she never found out who it was. The blonde sighed, she was exhausted, they had finally finished all of the baking for the next day, the center pieces and she had helped prep everything they could so that tomorrow would go as smoothly as possible. She walked further into the house, she peaked into the living room to find the room was already dark and Xander was sleeping, as was Oz on the cot across the room. If Oz was in the living room that meant that he had enough of Doyle talking in his sleep after just one night, she couldn't help but chuckle at that.

She slowly and quietly made her way up the stairs and to her bedroom, she couldn't wait to sleep! Opening her dresser, she pulled out some pajama pants and a tank top before turning towards her bedroom door. She needed a shower just as much as she needed sleep.

Just as she was about to walk out of her bedroom door, she realized Angelus was standing there with a small smirk on his face. "My mom said I could have a sleepover."

"I must be really out of it, I didn't even hear you come in." Buffy smiled at him.

"You should really start locking your door." He told her seriously before smiling again.

Buffy shook her head at him. "Uh, Oz is sleeping in the living room on the cot so I guess you can take your pick: Doyle or Gunn? Apparently, Doyle talks in his sleep though."

"I told you, I already knew who I wanted to snuggle up with." Angelus smiled widely at her before taking a step closer to her. He cupped her face, gently, before kissing her softly.

She briefly pulled away, searching his face before returning the sweet kiss.

Angelus lead her backwards slowly, until they reached her bed. It wasn't hard for him to know the exact distance from the door to her bed, it had been in the same place for most of their life. He placed his hand on the back of her head while his other hand gently caressed the small of her back as he lowered her to her bed, never breaking their kiss.

**Three Years Earlier**

Buffy adjusted her carryon bag as she made her way from the airline terminal, outside, for a cab. She reminded herself that she would need to call her mother very soon to inform her that she had in fact landed safely. Her mother was extremely worried about sending her teenage daughter on a flight by herself to another state but somehow, Buffy had talked her into it. It took a lot of begging, pleading and convincing but the young blonde had finally gotten her way. Teenagers travelled alone all the time! She made a quick call to her mother, keeping it short enough so she didn't ask too many questions but long enough to satisfy the older woman so she wouldn't call her aunt.

Walking out of the automatic doors, Buffy looked around for a cab, but instead she saw a certain tall, dark and handsome college freshman. He smiled at her as he got out of his car and made his way towards her. "Hey, Summers!"

"Hey, Angel." She smiled back as he took her bag.

"Is this all you have?" He asked her, surprised, he knew Buffy really well, and she always seemed to overpack.

Buffy nodded. Her mother had asked her the same question, but she figured she didn't need that many clothes and she was already nervous about making this trip. "I didn't expect you to pick me up."

"What else would I do?" He smiled at her, opening the passenger side door for her to get in. He made his way around his new-to-him Plymouth convertible, before getting into the driver seat. "I still can't believe your mom let you come see me!"

"Yeah." Buffy smiled, if her plan didn't work then she was going to be in so much trouble! She planned to fly to Illinois to see Angelus, but she had told her mother that she was going to her Aunt Arlene's house. She was going to go to her Aunt's house, just not right away. Her Aunt only lived 30 minutes from where Angelus went to school, give or take a few minutes. She had confidence that she would be able to pull this off. She just needed to see Angelus, it had been way too long since she had last seen him. It had been hard for her when he went away to college. She had gone from seeing him every day to not at all, and she was miserable. It was hard for her to explain to her best friend why she was so sad and crying, especially since it was over her best friend's older brother. Willow had been extremely understanding, but in the end said it would be best to move on, and she had tried. She just always compared other guys to Angelus. None of them had made her feel like he did. She was in love with a guy that didn't love her, not the kind of love she wanted at least. He loved her like a sister. But he had jumped at the suggestion she made about going to see him and that was all that mattered.

"So, are you more tired or hungry?" Angelus asked as he pulled the car away from the curb. "Or we could stop for food and take it home where you can then take a nap."

"Home?" She asked with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Yeah." Angelus nodded with a smile. "I moved off campus, I have my own place now… well, a place with some friends."

"Oh." Buffy smiled, he seemed proud. He hadn't mentioned having his own place when they had talked on the phone.

They had stopped off to get some pizza on their way back to Angelus' house. When they walked in, he could tell that Angelus lived with a bunch of other guys. There was sports gear laying all over the house, along with fast food wrappers. "Sorry." He shrugged, setting the pizza box on the counter before picking up some of the wrappers. "I swear, I cleaned up before I went to get you."

"It's fine, Angel." She smiled as he picked up even more wrappers. "I don't mind."

Angelus shook his head before taking the food wrappers over to the trash can. He had wanted the house to be clean for her, he wanted this trip to go well. He didn't get his chance at prom to tell her how he felt, but he wanted to now. "Okay, so an extremely short tour considering I share everything with other people but the common areas are the kitchen…" He motioned around the area he was standing in. "and the living room." He pointed to the left, causing her to once again glance at the couch that was loaded up with a sports bag and a hockey stick. "There is a bathroom down here, but I wouldn't recommend using it. I have a bathroom in my bedroom upstairs that you can use."

Buffy glanced around the house once more before turning back to Angelus. "It's nice."

Angelus nodded, it wasn't as nice as he had made it look before he had left but he couldn't do much about his friends. They were college boys, after all. "Do you want to go upstairs then? Maybe eat up there?"

Buffy nodded and whispered. "Okay."

0o0o0

"I still can't believe that is all you brought." Angelus laughed looked at her bookbag of clothes.

Buffy shrugged as she took a bite of her pizza, sitting beside Angelus on his bed. "I figure I will probably just buy more clothes while I am here."

"How long are you staying?" Angelus asked her, taking a bite.

Buffy shrugged. "Well, you see, in order to come see you, I kind of had to agree to go see my aunt too. So, technically I'm only going to be here until tomorrow and then I have to go to my aunt's house."

"Oh." Angelus looked a little disappointed. He had hoped that he would have more time to gather the courage to tell her how he felt. He didn't know why he was so stressed about telling her. He had known her for so long and it was always easy for them to talk. "I can drive you to your aunt's house then."

"Thanks, if you don't mind." She smiled at the thought of spending more time with him, even if it was for just an extra half an hour. If she was lucky maybe there would be bad traffic and she would get to spend more time with him. She set her pizza down on the paper plate on Angelus' bed. "I will be right back. I'm just going to use the bathroom."

Angelus took a deep breath as he looked at the bathroom door. He couldn't believe he only had until tomorrow to tell her how he felt! If she returned his feelings then he wanted to be able to spend time with her once she found out. Although, if she didn't return his feelings then they would have to spend the whole night and the drive to her aunts house, most likely, in awkward silence. She would come out of the bathroom at any moment and he just needed to man up and tell her!

Angelus stood up and started to pace, he ran his fingers through his hair, he was about to talk himself into telling her when he heard the bathroom door open. He glanced up at her quickly, a small smile played on his lips as he watched her turn the bathroom light off. She was so beautiful, even doing something as boring as turning off a light. "Buffy…"

"Huh?" She asked, raising her eyebrows, as she gently shut the bathroom door behind her.

Angelus shook his head, he couldn't make the words come out. Why couldn't the words come out? After a moment of struggling to find his voice, he gave up. Instead, he quickly walked towards her, planting his lips on hers. It wasn't an unsure first kiss, it was as if they had kissed a million times before, because in his mind, they had. He had thought about this moment so many times in the last few years. He smiled against her lips as she eagerly responded to him. He held her closely to him, gently pinning her against the bathroom door she had just come out of. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her waist even closer to him, causing her to gasp and break away from their kiss. He smiled down at her, gently running his knuckle across her cheekbone. She nodded softly and slipped her hands up the back of his white t-shirt. He kissed her again as his hands travelled to the waistband of her thigh length black skirt.


	5. Thanksgiving

So, I went to finish writing the last chapter of New Year's in Handcuffs and guess what? Everything I had written for that chapter a few months ago is missing! So, once again, I have to start over. Although, when I logged into my Google Docs, I found the original first half of chapter 3 that I thought I had lost and it's completely different from the one that was posted, in fact, it was very NC-17. LOL

I guess I will get back to writing chapter 4 of New Year's in Handcuffs! Please review for this chapter! I will post the last chapter as soon as I can!

Chapter 5: Thanksgiving

As Buffy started to wake up, she felt a hard chest beneath her head, she was taken back for a moment until she remembered the events of last night. Angelus had come over. She opened her eyes, glancing up to see if Angelus was awake yet, he was. He was watching her with a smile on his face, which caused her to smile. She never thought that she would be in this position with Angelus again. Last time, it was her that had to leave the next day to get to her Aunt's house but now, it was Angelus that was going to have to leave. He had a life in Illinois that he would have to get back to at some point. He had mentioned staying in Sunnydale but no one else in his family seemed to know about it. She would have to make the best out of the time that she did have him for.

She turned her face further into Angelus' chest, partially because she wasn't ready to get up yet and partially to hide her smile. She really didn't want to leave her bed or the comfort of his arms.

"Good morning." He whispered placing a kiss to the top of her head.

Buffy smiled, it was a good morning and it had been an even better night. It had been an amazing night. Even better than the first time, because this time, she was older and knew more. The first night she had spent with him would always hold a special place in her heart because it was her first time and it was with someone that she loved, but she was also incredibly nervous when she had woken up the next morning, Angelus was older than her and more experienced. If she had done anything wrong that night, he never said a word about it. "Morning."

Angelus pulled her even closer to him, resting his chin on her head. After a few moments he heard a cell phone ringing, it sounded like it was coming from his pants which were on Buffy's bedroom floor. He let out a sigh, knowing exactly who that was going to be. "I don't suppose we could say there were no clocks in the house and have my mother fall for it."

"No." Buffy shook her head, mumbling. "My mom never bought it, I don't think yours would." She glanced at the alarm clock by her bed that she had never got the chance to set the night before. "She's going to be so upset, I said I would be over early."

"You did a lot the last couple of days, I'm sure mom can handle getting the turkey started." Angelus told her, not even making an attempt to get up, instead, he snuggled down further into Buffy's full sized bed before kissing her. Buffy wrinkled her nose up, causing Angelus to laugh. "What? Does my breath stink?"

"It's not YOUR breath that I'm worried about." The blonde pouted.

Angelus smiled and kissed her again, running his fingers through her hair. "Doesn't bother me." He ran his hand down her bare back. "I just want to stay here, right here, with you." He paused and gave her a teasing smile. "…and your stinky breath." Buffy gasped but was cut off by another kiss.

"Thought it didn't bother you." She teased back.

Angelus smiled at her. "It doesn't, what bothers me is that fact that we have to get up sometime today." He groaned when he heard his cell phone start to ring again. Angelus begrudgingly got out of bed, reaching for his pants that held his cell phone. He let out a sigh when he saw that it was indeed his mother, as well as a few missed call from his friends. Looking over at Buffy, he saw her watching him, the picture that she made laying there in her bed with the sheets pulled up just above her chest made him happier than he had ever been. He dropped his pants and phone back to the floor, making his way back to the bed. "We're already late, what's a little while longer."

Buffy giggled as he jumped back on the bed.

0o0o0

Buffy and Angelus hurried down the stairs, towards the front door. "We really have to hurry, my mom is going to kill us." Angelus said from behind the blonde, as he put his blazer on. Just as they were about to make it to the door the house phone began to ring causing Buffy to change her path towards the living room instead. "That's not hurrying, that's the phone."

Buffy shrugged her shoulders at him as she looked at the caller ID. "It's Will."

"You can talk to her when we get to my parents house." He tried to reason. "She's probably just wondering where we are."

"Hey Angel!" Gunn shouted from the top of the stairs, with Oz beside him. "Finally come to pick us all up, I see."

Doyle walked up behind the African American. "Hey man, where have you been? We tried callin' ya."

"Busy." Angel nodded, glancing over towards the blonde that had just picked up the phone. "Very busy." He could hear Buffy telling his sister that she was running late and would be there as soon as she could. "We need to get going before my mom gets mad… if she isn't already."

"Why would she get mad if we aren't there?" Xander asked, coming out of the kitchen. "Doesn't your families tradition involve the guys just sitting around watching the game while the women cook?" He glanced towards the living room to see Buffy hanging up the phone. "Oh. Buffy, what are you still doing here? You are going to get us all in trouble."

"Let's just move!" Angel shouted, pointing at the door as all his friends ran out the door. He waited until Buffy went out the door and then followed himself, shutting the door behind him.

0o0o0

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" Buffy exclaimed making her way straight to the kitchen sink to wash her hands.

Mrs. Rosenberg looked up from where she was prepping some food. "What happened, Buffy? We were so worried."

"I, um…" Buffy didn't think she should tell them about what had happened with Angelus, she certainly didn't want to say it in front of Mrs. Rosenberg but she had still been keeping that night three years ago from Willow. She just didn't think it was a good idea to tell her best friend that she had lied to her own mother about her true intentions when she had gone to Illinois and had spent the night with her best friends older brother who she just happened to lose her virginity too. "I was up late doing homework."

"Oh!" Willow smiled at her best friend. "Did you get your paper done?"

Buffy nodded. "Totally."

"Good! Are the guys here too?" Willow asked as she pulled some fresh vegetables from the refrigerator.

Buffy nodded again. "Apparently they couldn't come here alone… something about not remembering how to get here."

"Wasn't Angelus with them?" Mrs. Rosenberg turned towards the blonde with a concerned look on her face.

Buffy made an O shape with her mouth before nodding. "Oh yeah, totally. He was. I don't know what took them so long then."

0o0o0

Buffy was assigned the task of setting the table while Willow and her mother were still in the kitchen making food. Mrs. Rosenberg liked things a certain way, and when it came to Thanksgiving that was formal dinning complete with her favorite china and crystal. If Buffy had it her way, it would be paper plates and red solo cups. Easy clean up.

"Hey." Angelus smiled at the blonde as he walked up to the table, he took the cloth napkins that were sitting on the table beside her and started to fold them. "Need help?"

Buffy smiled at him. "Aren't you supposed to be watching the game with the guys?"

Angelus shrugged. "I would much rather help you."

"Well, I would appreciate the help." She told him, folding a napkin and adding it to Angelus' pile.

"You got it." He nodded, finishing the napkins then made his way over to the large glass cabinet where his mother kept all her fancy plates and cups. He remembered when he was younger the kids always got yelled at for running past the large cabinet. His mother was so worried that they would break something. "I don't understand what is so wrong with paper plates."

Buffy laughed. "I was literally just thinking the same thing."

"This is just too much for me." He motioned towards the stack of plates, then brought them to the table. "Are you going Black Friday shopping tomorrow?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know, a lot of people go shopping on Thanksgiving now and I don't think that's right, all those retail workers would like to be home with their families. I don't even know if it's really worth it anyway. Isn't it just easier to buy stuff online?"

Angelus nodded, leaning his hands on the table beside her. "Yeah, and the deals are normally better online. So, if you aren't going shopping tomorrow morning then what are the chances, I could spend the night again?"

A bright smile spread across her face. "Would your mom allow that?"

Shrugging, he smiled. "I'm a big boy, plus, I would really like to be able to stay in bed this time."

Buffy bit her lip. "Yeah, me too."

"Good." He laughed before giving her a quick kiss. "I'm coming over. Are you making that pink stuff that your grandma always made?"

"Pink stuff?" Buffy questioned, she was surprised that Angelus had kissed her so openly in his parents dinning room. "Oh! You mean the fruit salad?"

Angelus nodded, setting the plates in the right places around the table. "Yeah, the fruit salad that doesn't really have fruit in it. It's so good!"

Buffy shook her head, laughing. "Hey, it has pineapple in it! And strawberry… flavoring. I didn't intend on making it and I refuse to go shopping today."

"Do you have the stuff to make it at home?" Angelus wondered, as he made his way back around to the other side of the table.

The blonde thought for a moment. "Probably."

"We should go get it." He volunteered, grabbing some of the crystal from the cabinet.

Buffy shook her head as she placed the forks beside the plates Angelus had just put on the table. "I don't think your mother would like that very much."

"Just say you need to grab something from home that you forgot and walk out." He told her. "She isn't going to stop you." He paused for a moment. "Then I will just sneak out because that's the only way I can get away from her."

0o0o0

After they had finished setting the table Buffy had told Willow that she forgot something at home and as she got in her car to leave, Angelus quietly ran outside and jumped in the passenger side of her mother's old jeep. "Were you going to leave me?" He asked seriously.

Buffy laughed as she put the jeep in reverse and backed out of the driveway. "I didn't think you were seriously going to come too! I'm just going to run in to make sure we have the stuff and come right back."

"Even that would be like five minutes away from my smother." Angelus reasoned.

"Smother?" Buffy shook her head with a small laugh. "Really? She has just missed you, Angelus. Someday when you have a child that is completely perfect in every way then you will be just like your mother."

"Why would you wish that on me or my child?" He teased her. "I wouldn't be anything like that. I mean, yeah, I'll be proud of them and support them but I'm not going to be all over them." Suddenly, Angelus smiled brightly at her. "You said I'm perfect."

"As much as I don't want it to go to your head…" She trailed off, turning left in the jeep. "You are."

"So are you." He whispered back to her.

The blonde glanced towards him before turning back towards the road to turn down her street. "Okay, lets make this fast. Your mother is going to freak!" She teased as she pulled into the driveway. She quickly made her way up the stairs to her house, unlocking it and hurrying inside with Angelus right behind her.

As soon as the door was shut, Angelus spun Buffy around, pinning her to the front door. "Angelus, what are you doing? We need to hurry."

"As much as I enjoy your family's fruitless fruit salad, which is more like a desert by the way, what I really wanted was to be alone with you." He smirked at her.

Buffy let out a sigh with a small smile. "We were alone while we were setting the table at your mothers house."

"Not alone enough." He whispered as he lowered his lips to her slim neck.

Buffy giggled as he kissed down her neck. "I guess a little alone time won't hurt."

Angelus smiled as he felt her pulling his tucked in shirt out of his slacks.

0o0o0

Buffy watched Angelus as he sat with his friends and father in the living room while they watched the game. All the younger men laughed at something they were talking about, Gunn earned a lighthearted slap in the arm from Angelus. She didn't know exactly what was going on between her and Angelus. She didn't know if she should bring it up to him or just let whatever happens, happen. She had been in love with him for so long, she just couldn't believe any of this was happening. She felt like it was all a dream.

When they had gone to her house to pick up the few ingredients for the fruit salad, they had gotten so distracted by each other that they almost forgot all about the ingredients. At the last minute she had to run back inside to grab them. They had arrived back at the Rosenberg house and he whispered to her that he thought they had gotten away with it. So far, no one had mentioned them being gone for too long and she was grateful for that. She didn't know how to explain why they were gone for an hour.

"Buffy!" Willow called from the kitchen as she made her way over to the blonde. "We are almost ready to get all the food on the table."

"Okay." Buffy whispered with a small smile, she pushed herself away from the door frame gently.

Willow looked at her best friend, concerningly. "You okay?"

The blonde nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

The redhead looked towards her older brother. "I don't know, I just get this feeling… is it because Angelus is involved with someone now?"

Buffy turned towards her best friend but glanced at Angelus before looking back towards the redhead. "No. I hadn't even given that another thought."

"I kind of want to ask him, just to get like a straight answer out of him, you know?" Willow whispered. "I mean, he tells you he isn't seeing anyone, but he tells mom that he is. It seems weird. Has he seemed weird since he got here?"

Buffy shook her head. "Actually, he seems like… Angel. He is acting like he always has… for the most part."

"Has he told you anything else?" Willow wondered. "I mean, other than the whole not having a girlfriend thing?"

Buffy shrugged. "He may have mentioned something about possibly, maybe, moving back here."

"What?" Willow asked, shocked. She would love for her brother to move back to Sunnydale but from what she had heard, he loved it in Illinois and she didn't think he would want to leave the life he had built, including his really close friends. "Wait, what exactly did he say?"

"That's all he said." The blonde shrugged. "He was thinking about staying…"

Willow looked around at her father, her brother and his friends in the living room and then behind her at her mother in the kitchen, then whispered to her friend. "So, he said he was thinking about it, not that he was."

Buffy nodded. "I guess so."

"Okay." Willow let out a breath that she had been holding and nodded. "So, we just don't speak of this and then mom won't hear about it. You know she is going to freak out."

The blonde nodded again. She could only imagine what Mrs. Rosenberg would do if she heard that Angelus was moving back to Sunnydale, especially if it wasn't set in stone. She would spend every waking moment trying to figure out a way to get him to stay.

"Business as usual then, we act like we know nothing until we actually know something." Willow nodded with large eyes. As much as she hated keeping something from her mother, she couldn't take anymore crazy right now. Taking a deep breath, she stood up straight in front of her blonde friend. "You went back to your house to get the stuff for fruit salad, right? You should probably make it."

Buffy nodded again before silently making her way over to the fridge where she had put the ingredients that needed to be chilled.

0o0o0

Every Thanksgiving the Rosenberg family went around to each person and said something that they are thankful for. It wasn't something that Buffy was used to, in her family they just ate a bunch of food and called it a day. She looked around at everyone, hoping that they would all go first so that she had more time to think of something.

"Who would like to start?" Mrs. Rosenberg asked as she looked around at all of her guests.

Gunn shrugged as he reached for a roll in the middle of the table. "I will."

"Not so fast." Mr. Rosenberg stopped his son's friend. "We go around to say what we are thankful for before we eat."

"Oh." Gunn mumbled, dropping the roll back onto the plate. They didn't say that! They asked who wanted to go first, he wanted to eat first!

Buffy crinkled up her nose as she watched the roll fall from his hand, back onto the plate. She reached across the table, pushing the plate closer to her crushes friend. "You can just take that one." She whispered.

"I will start!" Doyle smiled, picking up his glass. "I'm thankful that I'm finally 21 and can sit at the big kids table now."

"You mean the bar?" Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows.

Angelus chuckled at his friend. "Legally, anyway."

Buffy smiled at Angelus' remark, she remembered when she went to visit Angelus three years ago there was beer in their house. She had wondered at the time how they could have purchased it but just figured someone in the house was already the legal age for drinking. She wasn't sure if Doyle lived with Angelus at that time, or if they even knew each other though.

"I'm thankful for my little sister." Gunn offered thoughtfully.

"Oh! My turn!" Xander waved his hand, getting everyone's attention on him. "I'm thankful that I DON'T have to spend time with my family."

"Music." Oz offered with a nod, but didn't go into anymore detail than that.

Mrs. Rosenberg smiled at the short man, her sons friends were certainly something else. "I am thankful for Angelus being home for Thanksgiving, and all of you too, of course." She looked around at his friends. "Also, for all of Willow and Buffy's help the last couple of days. I don't know what I would have done without you girls!"

"But mostly for Angelus, right?" Buffy gave the older woman a teasing smile.

Mrs. Rosenberg smiled back. "Of course! It's been way too long since he has been home!" She turned towards her son. "You really should come home more often."

Angelus nodded. "I will work on that, mom."

"You just wouldn't believe how happy I am that you are here." Mrs. Rosenberg continued.

Mr. Rosenberg nodded his head. "I know how happy she is, because she won't stop talking about it."

Mrs. Rosenberg started to open her mouth again, but Willow cut her off, in fear that her mother would just keep talking about how happy Angelus made her. "School. I'm thankful that I get to go to college and learn!" The redhead nodded, turning towards her blonde friend sitting next to her. "Right, Buffy?"

"Oh, yeah. Totally." Buffy nodded, hoping that now she didn't have to say anything else. It wasn't that she wasn't thankful for stuff, she was. She was thankful for her best friend, her family, the fact that she even made it out of high school at all. She just had a thing about talking in front of so many people about something that was important to her, it made her nervous.

"What about you, Buffy?" Mrs. Rosenberg asked with a smile.

Buffy looked around the room with large eyes. "I thought that counted…"

"That was Willow's." Mrs. Rosenberg motioned to her daughter. "What are you thankful for, Buffy?"

Buffy took a deep breath and paused for a moment. "I'm thankful for… Willow. I never would have gotten through, well, anything without her. High school was just a mess, and it would have been even messier without her, not to mention the fact that I graduated at all, and the last couple of months in college…"

"Buffy, you would have graduated high school no matter what." Willow placed an encouraging hand on her arm. "You rocked the SAT's!"

"I kinda did, didn't I?" The blonde shrugged with a smile.

"That's what we heard." Mr. Rosenberg smiled proudly at the blonde. "Your mother said you got a 1430, if I'm not mistaken."

"1430!" Angelus exclaimed, with a shocked smile. "Buffy, you kicked ass!"

"Angelus." His mother said with a warning in her tone. "There is no need to talk like that at the table, but yes, Buffy did very well."

Willow tried to hold back a smile when her mother scolded her brother. It wasn't something she got to see very often.

Mrs. Rosenberg looked between her son and her husband. "Well, just you two left, who would like to go first?"

"You can go first, son." The older man nodded at Angelus.

Angelus raised his eyebrows at his dad. "You sure?"

The older man nodded.

"Okay." Angelus nodded, taking a deep breath as he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pants pocket.

"Don't tell me you have a huge list!" Xander exclaimed, turning to Gunn. "We are never going to get to eat."

"I don't have a long list." Angelus dismissed his friend, looking down at the paper in his hand. It was a paper he had been keeping for a long time. He had waited a long time to do this. "I am thankful for a little girl who told me she was going to marry me…"

"Ewww!" Xander grimaced, looking at his friend in shock. "That's just wrong!"

Angelus shot Xander a glare, but turned back to the paper in my hand, turning the paper over, but not unfolding it. "She was always there for me and in a way, she was my best friend, but…" Angelus got out of his seat, walking around the table, earning odd looks from his friends and family. "as thankful as I am for that little girl, I'm even more thankful for the woman she turned into." He unfolded the paper in his hand as he kneeled beside Buffy, handing her the paper. "Will you help me finish the story that I'm writing, Buffy?" He gave her a small smile. "Does his childhood friend love him back?"

Buffy gasped when she looked down at the paper in her hand. It was the same paper she had given him ten years ago, when she was only eight years old. The Cinderella dress she told him she was going to wear when she married him.

Willow watched the scene before her unfold in complete shock, as everyone else seemed to hold their breath, waiting for Buffy's response.

"Yes." She whispered, as tears threatened to fall from her large eyes.

Angelus smiled brightly at the blonde. "I kept it safe, just like you told me too."

Buffy silently nodded, she was in awe of the fact that he still had the coloring page after so long and he did just say love, right?

Reaching into his other pocket, he pulled out a small box, placing it on top of the paper in her lap. "You are going to need this to go with the dress." He whispered as he opened the box.

Buffy's mouth dropped open when she saw the diamond ring nestled in the small black box. "Oh my god." She whispered. "Are you serious?"

Angelus nodded when she finally looked up at him from the ring. "So?"

"I will get it on sale." She repeated the same words from ten years earlier about the Cinderella dress.

Angelus smiled even wider before taking her face in his heads, kissing her.

"How long has this been going on?" Mr. Rosenberg was the first to speak, a small smile played on his lips.

Angelus pulled the ring out of the box, carefully placing it on Buffy's ring finger. "Our whole lives."

Buffy bit her lip, looking down at the ring now on her finger. "I asked him to marry me ten years ago."

"Took you long enough!" Willow finally spoke, slapping at her big brother.


	6. Chapter 6

Here is the last chapter, now I have to figure out what comes to me… either update another story or work on a story that I have several chapters of written but haven't posted yet.

I really do want to rewrite chapter 26 of I'm All In, that wasn't what the chapter was intended to be but I had lost the chapter when my computer crashed and I attempted to rewrite it but it pretty much ended up being chapter's 26 and 27 all smushed into one. I had one of my friends read it and she said it was fine, but I'm just not satisfied with it. I guess we will see what my muse says! Anyway, hopefully you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 6: Thankful

After dinner, Buffy sat in Angelus' lap in the living room, looking down at her new engagement ring. She couldn't believe just 3 days ago she had been single, then Angelus comes back to town and she wasn't just in a relationship, she was engaged! How does that happen!

"It's so weird." Willow smiled from her place on the living room couch. "I had just asked her before you got here if she still had feelings for you."

"You knew she liked me, and you never told me?" Angelus questioned his younger sister.

Willow raised her eyebrows at him. "Like is an understatement, and what was I supposed to do? Just come out and be like 'by the way, Buffy loves you'? No, I couldn't do that because if you didn't have feelings for her back, then things would have gotten awkward. Wait, so what about when you told mom that you were seeing someone?"

"I only said that because I didn't want her to try to set me up with someone." Angelus answered his sister. "I had every intention of telling Buffy exactly how I felt. I had planned on doing it a few other times, but it never seemed to work out in my favor."

"Then what about…" Willow looked around to make sure her mother wasn't nearby. "when you said you were thinking about moving back?"

"I have no intention of leaving Sunnydale." Angelus told her. "Unless Buffy wants too."

Willow blinked a few times, she didn't think Angelus would give up Illinois but apparently, he would for Buffy. "When did you decide that? I mean, you didn't say anything."

"It wasn't set in stone until Buffy informed me that she didn't have a boyfriend." He responded to his sister but kept his eyes on Buffy. "Although, if you were involved with someone, I had already planned to fight for you."

Willow's heart melted when she heard her brother's response, and it showed on her face. She was in complete awe of how much he seemed to love her. Suddenly she realized that he had said he tried to tell Buffy a few other times, but it never happened. "When were you going to tell her before?"

"Yeah." Buffy pouted playfully. "I would love to know when that was."

"Well, when I took you to prom." He gave her a smirk. "You were never my second choice or a filler. You were always my first choice, every time."

The blonde bit her lip, smiling at him. She always wanted to hear him say she was important to him, and not in a sister kind of way. "Why didn't you tell me at prom then?"

"I tried." He shrugged. "Cordelia showed up and asked to dance, I was going to tell her no, but you walked away. Then I had planned on it when you came to visit me…" Buffy shook her head quickly, trying to stop him from talking but it was too late.

"Visit you?" Willow questioned in shock.

"and I feel like I told you without really using words, I mean we made love…" Angelus trailed off.

Willow's eyes were as large as they had ever been in her life. She was in so much shock, she was surprised she didn't have a heart attack right then. "You guys had sex!?"

"You never told her?" Angelus asked Buffy in shock, the two girls told each other everything.

The blonde hid her face in the crock of his neck, softly shaking her head. She slowly sat forward, looking at her friend. "Remember sophomore year when I went to go visit my aunt?"

"Sophomore year?! Tenth grade!" Willow exclaimed, looking towards the living room entrance to see if anyone had heard her outbursts. "All this time… Faith makes fun of you for being a virgin and you just take it even though MY BROTHER took your virginity before Faith even lost hers!"

"I don't really think it is any of Faith's business." Buffy shrugged. "I mean, I'm sorry for not telling you… I just knew that my mom would kill me for going to see him when she thought I was going to my aunt's house and I HAD to see him, and you can't lie, Will. If you even hesitated around my mom when it came to the trip, then she would know something was up and I couldn't chance that."

"Did you know she was lying to everyone to go see you?" Willow glared at her older brother.

He shook his head. "This is the first I'm hearing about it. I mean, I knew she needed to go to her aunt's house the next day. I drove her there, I just didn't know Joyce didn't know anything about seeing me."

Buffy sat quietly, looking down at her hands.

"I get it." Willow whispered. "You are right, I can't lie, and I know you really missed him, and my response was to tell you to move on. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, Will." Buffy gave her best friend a small smile. "I shouldn't have kept it from you for so long."

Willow leaned forward on the couch. "What I don't get is if you guys got together back then, why haven't you spoken since? As much as I don't want to know this about my brother… was it not good?"

"Not good?" Angelus asked in shock. "It was amazing, if it wasn't good then we wouldn't have done it again."

"Again?" Willow asked, confused.

Buffy nodded. "Last night." She paused for a moment then shrugged. "And today… twice."

Willow was speechless, there was so much about them that she didn't seem to know. This was her best friend and her brother!

"So, that's where you were, Angel." Gunn smirked as he entered the living room at just the right time. "You had a sleep over."

"So, if it was…" Willow paused for a moment. "good. Then why haven't you seen or spoken to each other since it happened, you know, the first time?"

Gunn looked at the redhead oddly. "First time?"

Angelus held his hands up in the air, before placing them back on Buffy's thighs. "Not my fault. I tried calling her."

Willow looked at the blond, waiting for a response, when Buffy shrugged. "I was afraid of rejection."

"I don't think he could ever reject you." Gunn motioned towards Angelus. "When he wasn't talking about school, he was talking about you. We all couldn't wait to meet you because we felt like we already knew you."

Buffy turned towards her new fiancé and smiled. "Really?"

Angelus softly kissed her as Gunn nodded. "What I'm stuck on is the whole 'first time' thing."

Angelus sighed as he pulled away from the blonde, breaking their kiss. "Buffy, apparently, secretly came to visit me when we first moved into the house off campus."

Gunn thought for a moment, then raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Oh, you mean when you cleaned the whole house and then we didn't see you for like two days?"

Angelus rolled his eyes at his friend as he pulled Buffy even closer to him in his lap. Buffy looked up at his other friends as they walked into the living room, noticing how Willow's eyes went straight to the shortest of the men. Buffy leaned into Angelus ear and whispered. "Is Oz single?"

**Five Years Later**

Buffy attempted to make her way around all the other women in the kitchen, they were all rushing around to make something for the large Thanksgiving dinner. Just when she thought they couldn't have anymore people in one house on Thanksgiving, the next year, it's even bigger. She was proud to be involved in the actual cooking of the meal now though, instead of just the baking. She had come a long way in the kitchen in the past five years. She gently stabbed a fork into the potato in the pot to check to see if it was done when she thought she had heard her mother say something, she couldn't tell what it was that her mother had said though, there was too much noise. All the noise in the house was common in the last couple of years. She turned to look at her mom, who was working on mixing something across the kitchen. "What mom?"

"I asked if Dawnie needs help." Her mother repeated, turning towards her oldest daughter.

Buffy looked towards her younger sister, who was in the middle of most of the chaos. "I think she's got it covered."

"Where is Angel?" Joyce asked her. "He could definitely take some of the stress off of her."

Buffy smiled at the thought of her husband, she knew as soon as he walked in the room that all the stress would be off Dawn. "He should be back in a minute."

"Where did he disappear to?" Joyce asked again.

Buffy turned the light on in the oven, checking on the turkey. "He's doing me a favor."

Joyce smiled at her daughter before turning back to the food she was making. "Making your every wish and desire come true? Yup, that sounds like your husband."

Buffy smiled even bigger when she heard the front door closing, she knew it was him. She always knew when he was around, it was like a spidey sense that they both shared. Buffy glanced at her mother, teasingly pointing up in the air, waiting for something. Suddenly the house got quiet and small voices screamed "Daddy!" The blonde looked towards her little sister, the younger woman let out a large sigh as the two kids hopped down from their chairs beside her and ran towards the front door. "You okay, Dawnie?"

The dark-haired girl nodded, looking from the two young kids to her sister. "Remind me never to have kids."

"They aren't that bad." Buffy smiled, looking towards her husband as their two children, who were the spitting image of their father, rushed to him, giving him a hug.

"Connor, Cathy." Angelus raised his eyebrows at the excited four-year-old twins, just one look and the two of them settled right down. "I will be right back." Buffy smiled brightly as her husband made his way towards her, setting the item she had sent him to retrieve on the counter next to her. "Cookie dough fudge mint chip." He smiled before giving her a kiss.

"Thank you." She whispered before kissing him again. "You are the perfect husband, and you don't even know it."

"Mmmm" Angelus pretended to think. "With how often you tell me, I should know by now." He went in for yet another kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too." She smiled. "Now, go save my sister. She has been attempting to make fruit salad with the kids, but it looks like the kids are about to defeat her."

"I'm on it, my love." He nodded, before turning back towards his children.

She loved that Angelus was an amazing father, he was always there for their children, playing with them and teaching them but he also always put her first. Even if it was something as quick as a trip to their house to grab her some ice cream, he always gave her a kiss and told her he loved her before he started to play with the kids. "Babe." She called to him, causing him to make his way back to her. "Next year, we are having Thanksgiving at our house."

"And why is that?" He teased her.

"Because, they…" She motioned to Connor and Cathy, as they jumped around on both sides of Dawn, laughing. "don't act like that at our house."

Angelus nodded. It was true, Cathy and Connor were better behaved when they were at home than when they were at his parent's house, or even at Joyce's house. At home, the twins were calm and polite, of course they got into the occasional trouble, what four-year old's wouldn't, but it was no where near what they were like at their grandparent's house.

Dawn squeezed away from her nephew and niece. "Nope, never having kids."

"Aww, come one, Dawnie." Angelus laughed, wrapping his arms around his wife's waist, resting his hands on her extended belly. "You know you can't wait for number three to come."

"Haven't you guys ever heard of birth control?" Dawn whispered in a desperate voice.

Angelus frowned. "Hey, we waited, what, three and a half years for this one?"

"I'm shocked you waited that long with how you can't keep your hands off each other." Dawn teased them.

Buffy laughed at her sister's comment, it was true. They had a hard time keeping their hands to themselves. She still remembered Parkers face when she had returned to college after Thanksgiving break, he had approached her, once again, trying to get her to go out with him, until he saw that there was a diamond ring on her finger. She and Angelus had gotten married quickly, he had told her that he didn't want to be engaged for very long, he just wanted her to officially be his wife. Angelus hung around campus spending time with Buffy and his sister. Just a few short months later, Parker was still trying to get her to notice him, that was until she arrived to class with a baby bump. When she had found out that at some point during Thanksgiving break, she had become pregnant, she almost had a panic attack. She was a freshman in college, a newly wed and now pregnant. But the look on Parkers face had made her laugh. Angelus had helped calm her nerves about it though, he told her that she could still go to college and he would be able to take care of the baby because he would be at home working on a new book. Angelus was amazing throughout the pregnancy and even kept his word, he was a bit shocked when he found out there was going to be two babies instead of just one but like everything else in his life, he excelled at fatherhood. Now, she had just graduated college a few months ago and she was six months pregnant. She couldn't wait to have her third baby. This time, she was going to be able to stay home with her children because Angelus made enough money selling his books that she didn't have to work. She was happy she had her college degree in child psychology, not only did it help her with her own children but if ever came a time that she wanted or needed to work, she could.

"I think your sister is here!" Mrs. Rosenberg called from the dinning room, as Angelus started to play with Connor and Cathy.

Angelus got off the floor, looking out the window before turning to his kids. "Auntie Willow is here!"

The two small children jumped up and down excitedly but didn't make a sound.

"Hey little sister." Angelus smiled as Willow walked into the house with Oz behind her. He gave his sister a hug before giving Oz what Buffy and Willow called a 'man hug'. He waited a moment to release Oz, whispering to his friend. "Have the cravings started yet? Buffy has ice cream."

Oz nodded. "Yeah, they have."

"Buffy is in the kitchen." Angelus told his sister with a nod. "And there is ice cream."

Willow smiled at her big brother. Not many people knew that the redhead was pregnant, she hadn't even told her parents yet. She and Oz had recently gotten engaged, on the night Oz had proposed was also the same day that Buffy had gone with Willow to pick up a home pregnancy test. She planned on telling everyone today.

Willow made her way into the kitchen, smiling at Buffy.

"Hey, Will." Buffy smiled back. "How are you feeling?"

"We are late." Willow stated.

Buffy nodded. "Ah, yes. I remember the morning sickness like it was yesterday. It gets better."

Willow pouted. "How much longer?"

"Depends." Buffy shrugged. "It was bad with the twins, but this time around… it wasn't too bad. Luckily for me, your brother lives up to his name."

"Well, of course he would!" Willow laughed. "You gave him that name!"

Buffy laughed with a shrugged. "True, but really, he has been a godsend. I don't know what I would do without him."

"You wouldn't have two kids and another on the way, that's for sure." Willow laughed again. "Oz has been really amazing too."

Buffy nodded. "We both got pretty lucky."

Mrs. Rosenberg perked her head towards her daughter and daughter in law. "What are you two whispering about?"

Willow rolled her eyes playfully but was thankful her mother hadn't heard them talking about morning sickness. "We aren't whispering, mom."

"If everyone in the room can't hear it, then you are whispering." Her mother disagreed.

Joyce nodded. "It's true. Normally you two only whisper when you are talking about boys though."

Buffy and Willow smiled at each other. "We were." Willow giggled.

Angelus raised his eyebrows at what was being said between his wife, sister and their mothers, but his attention never left his children.

"We were talking about how lucky we are to have Angel and Oz." Buffy smiled in her husband's direction.

"Can't disagree there." Angelus teased with a smirk.

Buffy gasped, teasing right back as she threw a hand towel at him. The two small children laughed; they were used to their parent's antics. The kids especially loved when their parents would each take one of them in a grocery cart, racing through the store and singing silly songs. "Watch it, mister!"

"You know you love it, mommy." Connor turned to his mother with a huge smile.

Buffy raised her eyebrows at her husband, when he quoted his father. Angelus was constantly saying the same phrase to her when he teased her. Connor truly was his father's son. "Look what you did!"

"Me?" Angelus spun around on his place on the floor to fully face his wife.

The blonde tilted her head with her eyebrows still raised and crossed her arms over her chest. "He acts just like you."

"Is that really a bad thing?" Angelus asked, amused. "I mean, you tell me I'm perfect ALL the time."

Buffy laughed; she couldn't argue with him there. "You are. Let's just hope he finds a girl that will put up with him."

"I'm not sure if there is another you out there to put up with another me." Angelus smirked at his wife. "He may just end up living with us for the rest of his life."

"Oh my god!" Buffy exclaimed, laughing.

Mrs. Rosenberg smiled at the antics between her son and his wife. Those two really were perfect for each other. "You would be so lucky for him to live with you for the rest of his life."

Joyce smirked, letting out a small laugh.

"Faith is coming, right?" Willow asked, changing the subject quickly. She was positive that her mother still wanted Angelus to live with her, even though he was married with 2.5 kids.

The blonde nodded. "She said she was, I don't think she is going to bring the rolls like she said though, which is why we stopped to pick some up last night."

"If she doesn't hurry, she's going to miss all the food." Dawn pointed out to her sister and her best friend. "She is aware that Xander and his looney girlfriend are here too, right?" They all looked towards Mr. Rosenberg attempting to watch television but Xander's girlfriend, Anya, was talking his ear off. "Those two could eat everything by themselves!"

"We said to get here early." Buffy shrugged.

Angelus laughed, hearing his wife, sister and Dawn talking about Faith. "Did you really expect her to listen?"

Cathy shook her head no in response to her father, causing him to laugh even harder.

"You two want to do some crafts?" Angelus asked, getting up from the floor. "Mommy brought you some turkey pictures to color, and stuff to make your own turkeys! Then Grandma can tell you the story of the indigenous people."

Buffy and Willow burst out laughing, they had told him all about the way their mother was during the holidays when he was away at college. He couldn't help but tease his mother.

Angelus pulled out the crayons and other art supplies that his mother had and set it at the small children's table before grabbing the Thanksgiving centered crafts that Buffy had brought over, along with the children's storybook about Thanksgiving. Everywhere they went, Buffy always had a bag packed for the kids with snacks, books, small toys and anything else to keep them occupied. While most kids were pacified with electronics, the Rosenberg twins had toys and games on the go. Angelus couldn't help but smile when he thought of what an amazing mother Buffy was.

Just as Angelus was about to sit down with the kids, Cathy got up and walked over towards the front door with her little arms crossed over her chest. The door burst open and a brunette, not much taller than the girl's mother, walked in. "Your late."

Faith smirked down at the small girl. "Sorry, Itty Bitty Buffy."

Cathy gave the brunette a small smirk, everyone always told her that she looked like her daddy but acted like her mommy. "Foods gone."

Faith laughed, picking up the little girl. "Now, I know that isn't true. Grandma Joyce always saves me a plate."

"But she normally forgets about me." Gunn walked up behind Faith, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "How's my favorite girl?"

"Good." Cathy nodded with a huge smile as she reached for Gunn to take her.

Faith shook her head, making her way over towards Buffy and Willow. "He walks in and I'm chopped liver."

Buffy nodded, grabbing a clean spoon from the drawer and opened the ice cream Angelus had brought her. "Now you know how I feel when Angel gets home."

Willow smiled, watching Gunn talking with Cathy. "They both dote on her."

"Maybe Gunn is trying to tell you something." Buffy smirked as she ate a spoon full of ice cream.

Faith looked at her blonde friend, confused. "Like what?"

Willow gasped, turning towards her best friend. "You think Gunn wants a kid?"

Faith's eyes got large, while Buffy just shrugged. "He's not getting any younger."

Faith shook her head. "He isn't that much older than us and we aren't old enough to have kids!"

"Um…." Buffy pointed down at her stomach with her spoon. "I'm working on my third."

"That's you!" Faith exclaimed, she wasn't ready for kids, hell, she didn't even know if she wanted kids. She liked hanging out with Buffy's kids but raising them herself, that was something else completely. "He's just going to have to be satisfied with your kids, B."

Willow nodded as she also took a bite of the ice cream. "Besides, you guys haven't been together that long."

Faith nodded, happy that Willow was on her side. "Yeah, we don't all get married the same week we officially become a couple."

0o0o0

Xander walked into the kitchen, he watched Angelus grab some plates and silverware and the women were putting the food in dishes. "Is everyone here that is going to be here? 'Cause, I'm hungry!" The dark-haired man rubbed his stomach.

Mrs. Rosenberg nodded as she picked up the dish with the mashed potatoes in them. "Yes, we will sit down in just a minute. It would go faster if you would help set the table."

Xander turned to look at Angelus placing the plates on the table but then shrugged and went back to the living room. He was hungry but not hungry enough to help Angelus, he liked going to the Rosenberg house because the men sat around watching television.

Buffy watched Xander walk in the opposite direction and rolled her eyes before walking towards her husband. "Hey sexy, need some help?"

"Hey now, none of that sexy talk." He pointed a fork at her teasingly. "That's how we got into this predicament to begin with." He motioned to her stomach with the fork. "Your sister already wants to kill us."

"I'm okay with that." She smiled as she made her way over to him, standing on her tip toes to give him a kiss. Connor smiled up at his parents, they were always hugging, holding hands and kissing. "Besides, I think Xander is wasting away to nothing, so much so that he didn't even have the energy to help you set the table."

Angelus shook his head, giving her another kiss as she took some of the silverware to start helping him. It went a lot quicker with two people setting the table and before long everything was set on the table and everyone else was coming around to the table.

"There's so many people!" Cathy exclaimed from her seat at the children's table with her twin brother.

Faith nodded at the child. "Yeah, just think, next year there is going to be two more!"

"Two?" Mr. Rosenberg asked, turning towards Buffy.

"Twins?" Mrs. Rosenberg asked. "Again?"

Buffy's eyes became large, she didn't know what to say! Buffy and Willow both turned towards Faith with an irritated look.

"What's going on?" Joyce asked, confused. "Buffy…"

The blonde shook her head. "No mom, we aren't having twins again."

"Well." Willow let out a sigh. "We were going to tell everyone today anyway." The redhead turned towards her fiancé, with a smile. "Oz and I… well, I'm pregnant too."

"Really?!" Mrs. Rosenberg exclaimed excitedly. "This is amazing!"

Willow let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding. She knew that her parents loved Oz, but they weren't married yet, so she was a little nervous. Buffy had told her repeatedly that they had reacted fine when they found out Buffy and Angelus were having a baby before they were married but she was still nervous.

"Congratulations!" Joyce smiled at her daughter's best friend.

Dawn pouted slightly. "Another kid? Four of them? I'm going to need help babysitting!"

Everyone laughed at the younger girl. Even though the kids were a handful, Dawn loved Connor and Cathy, and she knew she would love the new babies too.

Everyone went around the table saying what they were thankful for, just as they did every Thanksgiving and then they started to enjoy their meal. Angelus leaned over to kiss his pregnant wife, and he couldn't help but be thankful for her and everything she had given him. He didn't know what he would do without her and their children. They were his whole world and he wouldn't have it any other way.

The End


End file.
